1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a system and method of arranging delivery of advertisements over a network such as the Internet.
2. Background Art
There have been proposed prior systems and methods of arranging the advertisement over the Internet between advertisers and media owners. The methods offer to the advertisers to buy ad space of the media owners on a pay-per-click or a pay-per-action basis. The Internet advertisement carries a vast number of different campaigns that attract prospective Internet users in different ways or expect different user""s action. So, the advertisers and the media owners are looking for the measure for effectiveness of the campaign over the Internet which is not simply relying upon the cost-per-click or cost-per-action. In view of the above potential demands of the advertisers, the inventors have sought to provide a consistent scheme which enables an agent to arrange the advertisement between the advertisers and the media owners with optimized conditions beneficial to the both parties.
The present invention has been accomplished to present a unique method and system which is capable of arranging the advertisement in such a manner as to satisfy varying requirements of the advertisers for effective return from the advertisements, which is therefore a primary object of the present invention. The system in accordance with the present invention includes an agent""s server provided with an invitation module, an offer module, and an arrangement module.
The invitation module is programmed to provide an invitation page on the network for inviting potential advertisers having an advertiser""s own web site to place an intended advertisement on the network media. The invitation page includes a condition form for entry of specific conditions that the advertiser requests for the proposed advertisement. The condition form has a selection box listing defined responses expected to be made by a prospective user as a consequence of the advertisement so that the advertiser can select at the selection box one or more of the responses to be included in the conditions. Also, the condition form has a cost per response entry to be entered by the advertiser as indicating a unit cost payable for each response selected.
The offer module is programmed to, based on a reply from the advertisers, makes an ad schedule listing the intended advertisements with the specific conditions. The offer module provides an offer page which discloses the ad schedule over the network to a potential media owner or affiliate having a network medium so that the affiliate can determine whether or not to place the advertisement on an ad space of the network media in agreement on the specific conditions prescribed in the ad schedule. The offer page includes an agreement entry which instructs the affiliate to enter an acceptance for selling the ad space for the advertisement.
The arrangement module is programmed to make an advertisement contract between the advertiser and the affiliate upon receipt of the acceptance only from the affiliate, and allocates the advertiser""s web site to the ad space of the network media placing the advertisement thereon.
The agent""s server includes a response measurement module which is programmed to count the number of specific responses made at the advertiser""s web site through the ad space. Further, included in the server is an administration module which is programmed to provide a statistical report over the Internet for furnishing the advertiser with an analysis of the responses being counted so that the advertiser can estimate the effectiveness of the advertisement.
Accordingly, it is possible with this system to select an optimum response expected by the user which is effective for the advertisement and beneficial to the affiliate. In addition, any suitable combination of the responses can be selected for consistent with varying interests of the advertisers.
The specifically defined responses includes visiting the advertiser""s web site; downloading a file or software from the advertiser""s web site; applying for a prize offered by the advertiser on the advertiser""s web site; answering to a questionnaire from the advertiser on the web site; requesting a catalogue from the advertiser through the advertiser""s web site; requesting subscription to a newsletter; signing up a membership of a club managed on the advertiser""s web site; and ordering a product or service on the advertisers web site.
The system is specifically adapted for the advertiser""s web site which includes an entrance page destined from the ad space for guiding the user first, an action page designated in the entrance page and requiring entry of information or reply by the user before requesting a result of the specified response, and an action process module which responds to the specific response for processing the same. In association with these pages and module, the measurement module is configured to have an index CGI, an action CGI, and a result CGI. The arrangement module prepares an index URL, an action URL, and a result URL upon establishment of the advertisement contract in order to make a definite interrelation of the pages and the module of the advertiser""s web site with the agent""s server for collecting data and counts of the specific responses for each of the advertisements.
The index URL, which identifies a URL of the index CGI and includes an ad code assigned to the advertisement, is embedded in the ad space for linking the ad space to the index CGI. The action URL identifies a URL of the action CGI and is embedded in the entrance page for linking the entrance page to the action CGI. The result URL identifies a URL of the result CGI and is embedded in the action page for linking the action page to the action CGI.
The index CGI is also linked to an index log file which stores index data with regard to the user requesting access to the entrance page. The index data include:
1) date and time of the user requesting for access to the entrance page;
2) a referrer log showing data of at least the ad space from which the user makes the request for access to the entrance page of the advertisers web site; and
3) the ad code.
The arrangement module also functions to locate an entrance page URL of the entrance page based upon the ad cod received at the index CGI by reference to a database table storing various ad codes in relation to various entrance page URLs. The arrangement module passes the located entrance page URL to the index CGI which responds to redirect the user""s request made at the ad space to the entrance page immediately after storing the index data in the index log file.
The action CGI is also linked to an action log file which stores action access data with regard to the user requesting for access to the action page. The action access data includes:
1) date and time of the user requesting for access to the action page; and
2) a referrer log showing data of at least the ad space from which the user is led to the action page.
The arrangement module functions to locate an action page URL of the action page by collation of the data of the ad space received at the index CGI with data of the ad space received at the action CGI and by reference to the table storing the various ad codes in relation to various action page URLs. The arrangement module then passes thus located action page URL to the action CGI which responds to redirect the user""s request at the entrance page to the action page immediately after storing the action access data in the action log file.
The result CGI is also linked to a result log file which stores action process data with regard to the user requesting the processing at the action process module. The action process data include:
1) date and time of the user requesting an access to the action process module; and
2) a referrer log showing data of at least the ad space from which the user is led to the action process module.
The arrangement module locates an action process URL of the action page by collation of the data of the ad space received at the index CGI with data of the ad space received at the result CGI and by reference to the table storing the various ad codes in relation to various action process URLs. Then, the arrangement module passes thus located particular action process URL to the result CGI which responds to redirect the user""s request at the action page to the action process module immediately after storing the action process data in the result log file.
Thus, it is readily possible to correlate the particular advertisement to the entrance page the action page and the action process page of the associated advertiser""s web sites for obtaining statistical data for each advertisement with regard to the number of the accesses to the entrance page, the number of the access to the action page, and the number of requesting for the action process.
The present invention also provides a unique method comprising the following steps of:
providing an invitation page over the network for inviting potential advertisers each having an advertiser""s web site to place an advertisement on the network with a condition form to specify conditions for the advertisement, the condition form having a list of defined responses expected to be made by a prospective network user in reply to the advertisement so that the advertiser can select at least one of the responses to be included in the conditions, the condition form having a cost per response entry to be filled by the advertiser as indicating a unit cost payable for the response selected, and having a media entry for designating a desired network media on which the advertisement is intended to be placed on;
receiving a reply to the invitation page from the advertiser and making therefrom an ad schedule with specific conditions for the advertisement;
providing an offer page which discloses the ad schedule on the network to a potential affiliate administering a network medium so that the affiliate can determine to place the advertisement on an ad space of the network media in agreement on the specific conditions mentioned in the ad schedule, the offer page including an agreement entry which instructs the affiliate to enter an acceptance for selling the ad space to the advertiser;
establishing an advertisement contract between the advertiser and the affiliate immediately upon receipt of the acceptance and delivering a confirmation of the contract to the advertiser and the affiliate;
allocating the advertiser""s web site to the ad space in the network media placing the advertisement in order to count the number of the responses made through the ad space to the advertiser""s web site during a predetermined period of time; and
delivering data of the responses counted over the network for access by the advertiser as well as by the affiliate so that the advertiser can evaluate the effect of the advertisement and that the affiliate can charge the advertiser for the advertisement based upon the data.
Thus, the matching of the advertiser with the affiliate can be easy to accomplished on the network, and the advertisement contract can be made simply at the discretion of the affiliate for prompting the advertisement.